Thomas Hickman WILLIAMS

(1801-1851)

Senate Years of Service:

1838-1839

Party:

Democrat

WILLIAMS, Thomas Hickman, a Senator from Mississippi; born in Williamson County, Tenn., January 20, 1801; attended the common schools; moved to Mississippi and settled in Pontotoc County; engaged in planting; appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James F. Trotter and served from November 12, 1838, to March 3, 1839; secretary and treasurer of the University of Mississippi at Oxford 1845-1851; known as ‘Father of the State University,’ being the first to propose it and also aiding to secure it; died on his plantation south of Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, Miss., May 3, 1851; interment in the private cemetery on the family estate.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present